The Scotsman brings us up to date on the twists and turns relating to Darfur:
Sudan is dragging its feet over co-operating with Darfur war crimes investigations, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the United Nations yesterday.Luis Moreno Ocampo said Sudan has not yet issued him with a visa to investigate killings and butchery that have left 180,000 dead and two million homeless.
What's not clear is why on earth they should expect Sudan to cooperate, given that the regime in Khartoum is largely responsible for the genocide.
The ethnic cleansing of the Darfur region of southern Sudan is one of the worst war crimes of recent years and is set to be a major test of will for the UN.For the first time it has linked up with the ICC for a war crimes prosecution. But this came in the teeth of opposition from the US, which opposes the ICC and has refused to recognise its stated aim of being the world's first permanent international war crimes court.
The UN agreed the ICC should do the prosecution in April only after a last-minute deal, part-brokered by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, which saw Americans given immunity from prosecution. A dossier with 51 names, yet to be made public, has already been given to Mr Ocampo by the UN, and is believed to target some of the top names in Sudan's army.
With dozens of convictions of top generals and politicians under its belt in war crimes trials for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the UN is confident that it has the legal precedents to try Sudanese officials.
However, human rights activists fear that if, as seems likely, top Sudanese officials including the president are indicted for war crimes, Sudan will stop co-operating.
In the case of Bosnia, the UN has used commandos to arrest main suspects and economic threats to persuade key figures, such as Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, to come forward.
But the Security Council is deeply divided and human rights officials fear it lacks the will for the kind of arm-twisting that may be needed to get Sudan to surrender senior leaders.
So, the politicians have certainly been busy. Will the ICC succeed in the teeth of Security Council dithering? We'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile there's a small point which it's easy to lose sight of. It creeps in at the bottom of the article:
Another problem for Mr Ocampo's investigators is that the war in Sudan rumbles on, despite ongoing peace talks.
Ah yes, the war. You can see how it would be a problem for Mr Ocampo's investigators. Bit of a problem too for the people still being killed and raped, nevermind living under the imminent threat of starvation.